Christmas at the Candied Apple Café. Katherine Garbera
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“Christmas is my favorite time of year,” she said.
“Why is that?” Mads asked.
“I like how everything is lit up with bright colors and how people seem to smile more easily. But mostly I like that time slows down,” Iona said. “When I was your age, Sofia, it was the one time during the year that my family were all together. Dad didn’t travel and we just spent more time together.”
Sofia looked up at him. “Like us.”
“Just like us,” Mads agreed. As much as he wanted this holiday to be over, he was very aware that Sofia was only six and he wanted her memories of Christmas to be good ones.
“I’m glad to hear that,” Iona said.
He took Sofia’s hand as they exited the elevator and since it was an office building, they stepped into an open area where they could hear the music and voices near the windows that overlooked the Plaza.
Jeff came over as soon as he saw them.
“Mads, good to see you,” he said, holding out his hand.
Mads shook it and then Jeff scooped Sofia up and gave her a hug. “How’s my favorite kiddo?”
“Good,” Sofia said. “I’ve been decorating cookies today.”
“You have? My mom used to say you could eat the broken ones,” Jeff told her.
“Well, I ate the decorations,” she said with a giggle.
Jeff put her down and turned to Iona.
“Hello, Io. I didn’t realize you two knew each other,” Jeff said.
“Hiya. The Common is interested in a partnership with the Candied Apple Café.”
“Hmm. Sounds interesting. Your dad would be impressed,” Jeff said, leading them into the party.
“I hope so,” Iona said.
“Of course, he would be,” Mads said. “The Candied Apple Café is one of the best-run businesses in this town.”
“Thanks,” she said with a smile, and then Blair came over and the two women started talking.
They were separated and he watched her go. He knew that business was the only relationship they had, but something about Iona made it hard for him to forget that.
The first-time Iona and Blair had met they’d been in second grade and both of them were trying to be the top student in the class. Both were strong type-A personalities who had lived up to their potential. Her father hadn’t been impressed and it had only spurred Iona to work harder.
Blair and Jeff had been married for eighteen months and her friend seemed happy. She had started to cut back hours at the magazine where she worked as a feature editor and Blair had told her in confidence that Jeff wanted to start a family.
“Is there a reason why we are in the corner?” Iona asked. “Are you pregnant?”
“What? No. I mean, I don’t think so. I won’t know for a few more days,” she said. “I dragged you over here to ask about Mads. Are you with him?”
“No,” Iona said. “We just arrived at the same time.”
“Okay,” Blair said.
“He is cute, though,” Iona said. There was no denying it. The dark-blue button-down shirt he wore made it impossible for her to stop looking at his eyes. And his thick black hair begged for her to run her fingers through it. She knew that she’d never do it.
Mads and Sofia were complicated and she was busy. The Candied Apple Café didn’t leave any time for a social life. And the few times she’d tried … well it hadn’t gone well.
“He is. But he’s complicated, Io,” Blair said. “His wife died last year, just days after Christmas.”
“I know,” Iona said. She would have guessed that he had some sort of tragedy in his past, even if he hadn’t told her about his wife. There was an aura of sadness around him at times. He was talking with a group of men and she noticed he kept his eye on Sofia, who had drifted off with a group of children.
“I just don’t want to see you get hurt,” Blair said. “I mean that matchmaker business and everything. How are things with Theo?”
Iona took a sip of her chocolatini before she answered. “Good. Well, awkward but good. Nico is really perfect for Theo and despite the fun we had together over the summer, there wasn’t any real passion between us. I mean, I only said yes to the matchmaker because of my mom.”
“And the fact that your dad is gone,” Blair said.
Iona shrugged. “Maybe … but really, it was more that everyone I know is getting married and settling down and I don’t have time to date so I thought it’d be a short cut.”
“Fair enough. If Jeff hadn’t been so persistent I probably wouldn’t be married to him either,” Blair said.
They both laughed at that. Jeff had fallen hard for her friend the moment he’d laid eyes on her and hadn’t given up, despite the fact that Blair had refused to accept a date with him for two years.
Jeff gestured for Blair to join him and Iona moved on to socialize with another group but noticed that Sofia was sitting on the floor by herself. She faced the plate glass floor-to-ceiling windows that offered a view of the plaza and the massive dark shape of the tree that would have its lights turned on shortly.
Ditching her martini glass on the tray of a passing waiter, she made her way over to the little girl.
“Can I join you?” Iona asked.
“Sure,” Sofia said.
“Tell me about your tree collection,” Iona said as she sat down.
“It’s really not that big but I have six so far. One for each Christmas. When I was two Mommy got sick and we couldn’t have a real tree.”
Iona hadn’t wanted to pry into Mads’ personal life and realized now that Sofia was telling her things that he might not want her to. “My brother is allergic to animals so we could never have a pet when I was growing up. My mom got me a large pink stuffed dog that I called Fluffy.”
“Papa says we travel too much for a dog,” Sofia said with more maturity than her years.
Just then “Must Be Santa” by Bob Dylan came on and Iona, whose mom loved Dylan, started to sing along, which made Sofia laugh and clap her hands. The music was catchy and the song had a lot of call and response, so soon they were both singing along, laughing. It was just a silly song and then in the middle there was a harmonica solo, which was fun.
This was what she loved most about the holidays, how a song could just lift the spirits. And she saw that Sofia was smiling the same way.
A deep tenor joined in and Iona looked up as Mads joined them, sitting down on the other side of Sofia. Sofia stopped singing along and watched Mads. Iona didn’t stop singing, just winked at Mads, who nodded at her. Sofia leaned into the curve of her father’s body and clapped her hands along with the song until it ended.
“That’s a funny song,” Sofia said.
“It is.”
She was a stranger to this family. A business partner, at best, and now that the little girl had her father with her, Iona should get up and leave.
Really, she should.
But she couldn’t.
She made small talk with the people that Mads introduced her to and she’d brought some Candied Apple Café business cards to hand out. But she didn’t